Midnight Visits
by onceuponakingston
Summary: Maura can't sleep because she worries about Jane in the hospital. But when they're talking during one of Maura's visits, she lets something slip. (Set after Jane is shot in front of the precinct in season one, but before season two starts.)


Maura sat up in bed, heavily breathing and sweating. The nightmare was the same as it had been for weeks; Jane was dead. She looked over at the clock to see that it was 2 AM and she knew that going back to sleep would be impossible.

She took a deep breath before peeling back the covers and slipping her feet into her slippers. The soft slapping of the slippers was the only sound throughout the house, and for once she was glad she was alone.

As a physician and a friend, she had helped Jane through many traumatic experiences, instructing her that it was mind over matter, that the dreams aren't really real. Until Jane had been shot, she never realised how hard it was to put her words into practice and wondered how hard it had been for Jane not to fight back with her sarcasm.

She slipped on the first clothes she could find; a pair of grey slacks, a white blouse and black heels. She grabbed her grey peacoat and car keys at the door before heading out. She knew her destination and if she was honest with herself, she knew the nursing staff were expecting her in the next hour or two.

A half hour later, she arrived at Massachutes General Hospital. The route to the ward that Jane was on had been paved into her mind the first time she had visited. Her heels clicked along the floor in time with the beeping of various machines, and Maura noted how quiet the hospital seemed to be. It reminded her of the rotations she did as a newly qualified doctor, the long nights and dreaded uncertainty about whether her patients were going to live through the night. She took a small comfort knowing that the people on her mortuary tables didn't have to suffer anymore.

When she arrived at the ward, the nurses on the night shift gave her a welcoming smile, despite the reason for her being there wasn't such a happy reason. Maura walked over to the nurses station, regarding a nurse she had become familiar with, Stacey, or Nurse Winters as she was known to her patients.

"How is she doing?" Maura asked.

Like every other night, Stacey logged onto the computer and looking through the notes that had been made by doctors and nurses throughout the day. "She is stable, her stats are fine," she read. "She ate a little food today, but she is still struggling with sleep."

"Is she awake now?" Maura asked.

"I'm not supposed to do my rounds for another ten minutes, so I'm not sure. You're welcome to go in, though."

Maura nodded her head slightly as a sign of thanks before turning on her heels and walking towards Janes private room. At the door, she slipped her heels off to minimise the chance of waking Jane and turned the door handle slowly.

"Who's there?" a panicked voice spoke.

Maura took a deep breath, she hadn't expected Jane to be awake. Normally, she just sat in the dark surrounded by the comfort that knowing Jane was alive. "It's me."

"Maur'?" as Jane spoke, a small bedside lamp illuminated the room, bringing it out of total darkness.

Maura sat down on the chair beside Janes bed, the brunette was unrecognisable. Gone was the spunky, headstrong detective with a big heart, instead a broken, sleep deprived woman lay in front of her.

"How are you feeling?" Maura asked. "I'm sorry, that is such a stupid question."

"Maura, what are you doing here?" Jane rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, "It's not like I don't appreciate your visit, but it's the middle of the night."

The blonde slipped her heels back on before standing. "I shouldn't be here, I'll go."

"Sit back down, Maur'."

Maura ignored Janes request and carried on walking towards the door.

"Maura, I swear to God I will get out of this bed -"

"Jane, you need your rest," Maura said as she turned to the brunette, "You could injure yourself further."

"Then sit the fuck back down."

Maura was taken about by the abrasiveness of Janes language, but she obliged and sat back down in the chair. She didn't know what to do or say because she knew that this situation was well out of the boundaries for a normal friendship.

"I'm sorry," Jane said after minutes of silence.

Maura looked up at Jane, "For what? You have nothing to be sorry for."

"I saw you, just after I shot the gun," Jane said quietly. "God, Maur', I've never seen you look like that before."

Maura knew what Jane was talking about. As soon as she had rushed out of the precinct, seeing the struggle between Jane and Bobby she had automatically feared the worst.

She already knew what Jane was like, she always put other people first no matter the situation. It was the only thing she had hated about the detective in the years she had known her, she never knew when would be the last time she would see her alive.

"I- I don't know what to say, Jane."

Jane ran her fingers through her hair, wincing when her fingers got caught in a knot and pulled on her scalp. "How 'bout the truth, might be a start."

Maura stared at her lap, her fingers playing with the seam of her coat. She knew what she wanted to say, she had for a long while, but the fear of rejection was too great and she couldn't lie without Jane finding out.

"Maur'," Jane said. She pulled the covers off of her and swung her legs over the side of the bed, ignoring the searing pain. "Your fidgeting, why?"

"I wished that you'd think of the people who love you, Jane," Maura spoke, her words barely audible. She took a breath and looked Jane in the eye as she moved to sit next to the brunette, "What would have happened if you had died? How would your parents or brothers feel? What about me?"

"They'd grieve for a while, then they would get on with their lives," Jane said softly. "So would you."

The doctors eyes welled up with tears, she kept her head down so that Jane wouldn't see her cry, but her best friend knew her all too well.

"Don't cry, I'm fine. I'm alive," Jane said. She put her arm around Maura and pulled her close. "I'm too stubborn to die yet. Plus I need to be around when you have your kids, I can't wait to teach them to be little shits."

Maura sniffled, "You will do nothing of the sort, Jane. Our children will behave perfectly."

The doctor froze instantly when she realised what she had said. _Our. Our children_. She had only let herself daydream about a Rizzoli-Isles family in the confines of her own bedroom, a place where she could trap her thoughts.

" _Our_ children?" Jane said, retracting her arm from around her best friend. "Maura, care to explain?"

She wiped away the tracks that the silent tears had left, taking a deep breath as she stood up from the hospital bed. "I love you, Jane."

"I love you too, Maura. You're my best friend."

"Jane, listen. I _love_ you."

For a few moments Jane thought about what Maura was saying, and then it hit her like a tonne of bricks. The realisation was like a weight lifting off of her shoulders because now she knew that Maura felt the same way she did.

The detective stood carefully, pushing the pain to the back of her mind because she finally had the best medicine.

"Why are you standing?" Maura asked. "Are you going to hit me?" she added, taking a few steps back. "Please don't hit me."

"Why would I hit you? And stop moving away and making this even more difficult for me," Jane said as she took her steps carefully.

"Why?"

"Maura, you just told me that you loved me, I'm going out on a whim to say that means you're _in love_ with me?"

Maura gave Jane a small nod of confirmation.

Jane didn't need any more words, she just willed herself to take two more steps. She pulled Maura closer to her by her hips. "Then let me kiss you, you dumb genius."

"That contradicts itself, Jane. I'm either dumb or -"

Maura's words were cut off by Janes' lips on hers. The kiss was chaste but it felt natural. Jane pulled away, her eyes immediately met her best friends, searching for some kind of acceptance or rejection.

"I'm either dumb or a genius," Maura finished. "I cannot be both, it's impossible Jane."

"God, I love you," Jane said with a laugh.


End file.
